Chapter Twenty-one

how about this? Climbing on walls, and a moral at the end!

Chapter XXI

As Mark detached himself from the group, Dameon and Joseph continued on behind their new acquaintances. Joseph muttered to Dameon “I have a bad feeling about this. It’s the end of my rope.”
“You’ve escaped from tighter spots before! You can do it again!” Dameon exclaimed.
“I don’t think so.” Joseph answered “I’ve already cheated death once. I’m not supposed to live any longer, and I won’t. You can tell Mark, he’s tough. But Matt? Matt’s different.”
A minute later they were in the square, facing an angry Spaniard who could be none other than Cristobol Coinhara. Standing, of all places, on the gallows, Coinhara yanked on the hangman’s rope and brandished his gun, shouting “Ha! I see you there! What would you like? This or this?”
The two Americans shouted back “Shoot us if you like! You’ll regret it later!”
“Fools!” The Spaniard screamed “I’ll get all of you! Then who’ll be left to make me regret anything?!” BANG! CRACK! Joseph was hit in the chest. As the second shot sped toward Dameon, Joseph dove across and gave him an almighty shove, to take the second bullet.
Taking the hint, Dameon ran off, leaving a path of aching bones as he charged through the townspeople, who were franticly trying to stop him.
Forgetting Dameon, Coinhara walked toward Joseph, who was on the ground, slowly dying. After staring down at him for a minute, Coinhara looked up, turned around, and screamed “He is dead!”
The entire area erupted in cheers. Suddenly, two shots rang out, seemingly from nowhere. Mustering up his rapidly failing strength, Joseph shouted “Never underestimate any half- dead enemies you have! As I have done to your Admiral so shall my country do unto yours! Lie down beside me, my man, you’ll find that you have no choice.”
Quite suddenly, Coinhara noticed that his left leg could no longer hold his weight: his right hand hung limp and would not move. He collapsed alongside his enemy, who continued in a normal voice “This may be the end of me, but be grateful that it isn’t your end. Neither is it the end of the fight, although when that time arrives, you will be slain by one you have not yet seen.” A few seconds later, Joseph was dead..
“Well? Isn’t someone going to help me up?” The Spanish Admiral screeched “And someone take this – this body somewhere else! It’s an obstruction in the public square!”
Coinhara was hauled up by two large men who bore him off to the nearest doctor right away. As he was carried off the scene, Coinhara shouted “Get that other captain if it costs you your life! Stop everyone who looks like an American and lock them up in the strongest prison!”
At that moment, Dameon had finally reached the rest of the group, who were all together now. “We’ll have to run if we want to escape. Joseph said he’d meet us at the main gate. Let’s move!” The group bunched up and ran down the nearest dark alley. Halfway down, they found a gutter and scampered up like true sailors. On the roof, they found that most of the roofs, like theirs, were flat. A series of flying leaps got them all onto a roof three doors down. Once there, they found that the leap to any other roof could only be made by a bird. Mark began scaling the gutter as a scout, and a few feet down, he was heard to say “Aha, the window’s open… All clear!” At that, the rest of the group all began to climb down the gutter and through the window, one after another, until they were all standing in a fashionable study. From there, they marched into the hallway and found the back stairs, which led them to the kitchen. They immediately forced open the back door and dashed off down the dark alleyway again.
After two hours, they finally found their way to the main gate. “Funny” Dameon remarked “You’d think he’d be here by now.” When their turn came to go through the gate, the watchman exclaimed “Hey, you, you’re a want…” Luke landed a knockout punch before he could finish. “Run for it!” With David in the back, keeping everyone together, Dameon led the dash through the gate.
When they were sufficiently far away from the city to be sure that they weren’t being followed, Dameon took Mark aside and said “I hate to say this, but your father never planned to meet us. In fact, he knew he was going to die when he sent you away. He took my shot so I could lead you. I leave it to you to break it to Matt.”
“That’s alright,” Mark replied quietly “I thought it going to be something along those lines when he sent me away. Otherwise, there’d have been no objection to my following along.” He trailed off as he continued staring at the ground. Dameon gave him a hefty pat on the back. “It’s okay, you’ll get your crack at revenge someday, but don’t live just for that. Live for life.”
After a short rest, the group jogged off, heading back the direction they had come. By the light of a full moon, they kept this up until long after sundown, and then retreated into the thick trees to sleep.